Patrik Schick's Champions League double puts Bayer Leverkusen in commanding position against Olympiacos

Patrik Schick scored twice in three minutes as Bayer Leverkusen secured a 2-0 victory at Olympiacos in their Champions League knockout play-off first leg, giving Kasper Hjulmand's side a significant advantage ahead of the return match in Germany.

Olympiacos 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Goals: 0-1 Schick 60’ (assist: Poku), 0-2 Schick 63’ (assist: Grimaldo)

The Champions League knockout play-off first leg between Olympiacos and Leverkusen brought together the two sides who had finished 16th and 18th in the league phase standings. Leverkusen had secured 16th place with 12 points, while Olympiacos were just one point behind in 18th.

Interestingly, the Greek champions had previously beaten Leverkusen 2-0 when the teams met in Piraeus during the league phase in January. For Olympiacos, this represented their first appearance in the Champions League knockout rounds in 12 seasons, while Leverkusen were looking to advance beyond this stage after exiting to Bayern Munich last season.

Leverkusen were looking to take revenge in Greece having lost 2-0 in January against Olympiacos. - ANGELOS TZORTZINIS

Evenly matched first half sees chances at both ends

Olympiacos started brightly at the Karaiskakis Stadium, pushing Leverkusen back in the opening minutes. Mehdi Taremi had the first attempt of the match in the fifth minute but fired wide.

As the half progressed, Kasper Hjulmand's side began to assert themselves with Schick forcing a save from Konstantinos Tzolakis in the 16th minute. The Olympiacos goalkeeper produced an even better stop shortly afterwards, tipping Ibrahim Maza's effort onto the crossbar after excellent work from Schick. Ernest Poku then missed a glorious chance to open the scoring when through one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

Olympiacos thought they had taken the lead just before half-time when Ayoub El Kaabi headed in from a free-kick, but the goal was disallowed as the ball had touched Taremi, who was in an offside position.

Tzolakis produced a series of top saves in the first half to keep the scores level, including Maza's volley. - IMAGO/ONE INCH PRODUCTIONS

Schick's quickfire double puts Leverkusen in control

After looking bright in the opening 45, Gelson Martins continued to pose a threat for the hosts, firing narrowly over with a powerful drive just after the restart.

However, it was Leverkusen who broke the deadlock on the hour mark. Poku drove forward from midfield and slipped a perfect pass through to Schick, who finished clinically into the bottom corner past Tzolakis.

Just three minutes later, the Czech striker doubled Leverkusen's advantage, meeting Alejandro Grimaldo's corner with a header that found the net despite Tzolakis getting a hand to the ball.

Schick nearly completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute but fired over from Grimaldo's cross.

Both coaches made multiple substitutions in the closing stages, with Leverkusen comfortably managing the game to secure a valuable 2-0 away win ahead of the return leg.

Patrik Schick's double significantly quietened down the enthusiastic home support. - IMAGO/ONE INCH PRODUCTIONS

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